Introduction to Classical Mechanics · Problem 4.3

Conservation of energy and momentum — Morin

Physics — Mechanics · simple-harmonic-motion

Problem

A mass mm oscillates on a spring with spring constant kk. The amplitude is dd. At the moment (let this be t=0t = 0) when the mass is at position x=d/2x = d/2 (and moving to the right), it collides and sticks to another mass mm. The speed of the resulting mass 2m2m right after the collision is half the speed of the moving mass mm right before the collision (from momentum conservation, discussed in Chapter 5). What is the resulting x(t)x(t)? What is the amplitude of the new oscillation?

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